1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«This study is part of a larger study that sought to bridge an existing gap between biophysiological mechanistic descriptions of affect regulation […] and the lived experience of regulating arousal states by family violence-exposed adolescents. In contrast to research and practice that defines resilience by psychological and behavioural outcomes, [this study] sought to contribute to the existing knowledge base by exploring affect regulation in context as resilience processes. [This] study includes Ungar’s (2019) three dimensions of resilience research: heterogeneous risk exposure of family violence; PPFPs [promotive and protective factors and processes] of affect regulation and other resources; desired outcome of affect regulation resilience.» (p. 198)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
«The purposive sample included 16 participants: one gender non-binary, seven female, and eight male, aged 15-25 years old. Thirteen participants were recruited from a community organization serving homeless and at-risk youth and three from an adolescent health clinic. All participants reported physical or psychological family violence exposure. […] In the past year, 13 participants had witnessed psychological intimate partner violence (IPV); eight witnessed physical IPV; 10 participants reported parental psychological abuse victimization; 11 reported parental physical abuse victimization. Six participants reported prior youth protection services involvement; all but one of the participants were enrolled in school.» (p. 199)

Instruments :
Guide d’entretien semi-directif

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse de contenu

3. Résumé

The results reveal that «[r]esilience processes were evident throughout the youth’s descriptions, as were experiential manifestations of trauma and psychobiological mechanics of affect arousal. The heterogeneity of youth’s descriptions demonstrates the valuable data gained by seeking qualitative experiential accounts of biopsychosocial processes to generate a holistic view of processes that are interactive by nature. […] The adolescents’ depictions of navigating hyper-/hypo-arousal states exemplified the interactive nature of precipitating stimuli (internal or external) with physical, emotional, and cognitive reactions that influenced regulation processes […]. Awareness of physiological signals and emotion identification, two essential affect regulation skills […], supported purposeful navigation. When participants’ ability to think through what was happening was disrupted, they often experienced psychobiological dysregulation […]. The youth emphasized the context-dependent adaptive nature of their strategies to self-regulate and the potential limitations as long-term solutions or applicability to other environments […]. Adaptive regulation strategies often influenced participants’ capacities to negotiate for protective and promotive resources […]. One of the most meaningful […] resources for these adolescents was their own internal capacity to calm physiological arousal and regain affect equilibrium when alone in a safe place. […] Social support, a recognized resilience-promoting resource […], was strikingly sparse in the data. All participants experienced family violence, and many were currently or formerly homeless, thus minimal supportive family connections were not unexpected […].» (p. 203)